A private investigator is hired to locate a person. The P.I. succeeds. His client is happy. His client turns out to be a stalker. The person located is harassed, harmed or worse. This is every thinking P.I.'s worst nightmare.

NCISS, the national association for investigators, has now come forward with an official position on locating persons. It also includes dissemination of personally identifying information. Although long overdue, the move is noteworthy as it puts the stamp of a recognized organization on what has long been seen as an "industry best practice."

Here's the official NCISS position:

"A member shall, prior to providing a person any personally identifying or location information of an individual, conduct appropriate due diligence to ensure that the person has a legitimate business or legal interest in obtaining that information. When such due diligence is not possible or appropriate, or if the person appears to not have a legal or business interest, the person shall be informed that their contact information will be provided to the subject they are seeking and the personal identifying information of the subject they are seeking will only be provided to the person if that party consents."

Robert Scott is a Los Angeles-based private investigator and author of "The Investigator's Little Black Book." Reprint permission.